Strange things were afoot in E10 last weekend: not only did Orient play a home match on a Saturday with a 3pm kick-off, but they actually ran out comfortable 3-0 winners over Blackpool and looked a much better side than we had for a number of weeks. Joking aside though, wasn’t that the tonic that we all needed?

With this match preceding Remembrance Sunday, the club as usual did itself proud in commemorating the fallen heroes who had made the ultimate sacrifice, most notably former Clapton Orient players William Jonas, Richie McFadden and George Scott. It was an especially poignant reminder given what is going on around the globe at the moment. I can’t have been alone in trying to hold back a tear when young Jack, the great great nephew of William Jonas, brought a wreath onto the pitch. It was another reminder of just how special our club truly is.

Onto matters football, and we seemed to start with much greater attacking impetus than we have seen from Orient for quite some time. We moved the ball more quickly and looked to get Dan Agyei running at or in behind Blackpool’s defence earlier, rather than dwelling on the ball in midfield.  Not only did it look much more threatening, but it also seemed to lift the crowd.

Just past the half hour mark we got the reward that our positive start merited. The impressive Jack Currie played a long ball forward up the left wing, Agyei nodded it on, held off his man, and bobbled the ball across the goalmouth where Sonny Perkins (more on him later) was lurking to prod home for his second goal in successive matches.

Blackpool started the second half seemingly determined to get themselves back into the match. Kyle Joseph headed just wide early on in the half and then rattled the crossbar with a curling effort that looked like Josh Keeley had little chance of getting to, but we stood firm.

Charlie Kelman replaced Perkins and Jack Simpson replaced Lewis Warrington just past the hour mark, and for once one of our subs made an almost immediate impact. A mere matter of minutes after entering the fray Kelman was on hand to volley home after Dan Agyei had once again driven down the left and fired a ball across goal. For a number of weeks we have been desperate for more from our forward players and hopefully we are now starting to see it.

Five minutes later Tom James sealed the match when he was the first to react to a loose ball in the area and fired home with his left foot. All in all a much more encouraging performance and a good win. In many ways we could really do without yet another enforced break due to Mansfield’s international call-ups. Without making excuses, while our form hasn’t been great at times this season, the constant interruptions really haven’t helped us to build any rhythm or momentum.

The EFL Trophy game on Tuesday night was a bit of a strange one. MK Dons reportedly changed their entire starting eleven from their preceding league match, which probably tells you all you need to know about where they see their priorities this season; but we started with an aggressive intention that forced them onto the back foot right from the kick-off. Our pressing led directly to the first goal as Charlie Kelman dispossessed Jack Tucker on the edge of their area and finished smoothly just six minutes in.

Then midway through the first half Sonny Perkins made it three goals in three successive matches, when Kelman sent him racing through the inside right channel, (looking slightly offside it has to be said!), he just about kept control of the ball and bundled his way round Dons’ keeper Nathan Harness before slotting the ball away.

As we touched upon last week (Orient Nerd Weekly Ramblings- Orient scrape through in the cup but are far from convincing.), it hasn’t been the easiest start for Perkins at Orient, but it is easy to forget that he is only 20 and really hasn’t had much senior football experience up to this point. Might we now be beginning to see him start to blossom as a player? It is early days of course but his performances in our last three matches, albeit two being cup matches against lower level opposition, have given us a hint of what he might be capable of.  As Richie said in his interview after the Blackpool victory the challenge for Perkins is to get himself in the team and try to stay in it. 

Maybe it was the intensity of our opening to the match, but we just seemed to drop off a touch after 20 minutes or so, and as a result the home side were able to establish themselves. Just past the half hour mark Callum Hendry let fly from the edge of the area, initially I thought it was a really good effort but with the benefit of hindsight perhaps Zach Hemming should have done better.

The second half was a bit less end to end than the first, and we finally restored the two-goal advantage that we needed to progress in the competition when Dan Agyei, having literally just missed a sitter 60 seconds previously, chased onto a lofted ball over the top and slotted it past Harness for 3-1.

I completely get the reasons why people don’t see this particular competition as a priority, but it’s another win and another step in the right direction in starting to build some form. Plus I am sure that Nigel Travis and co will be happy with the potential boost to our revenue if we can keep progressing.

Now we face a long two week wait until our next league match away at Stevenage. We need to find a way to keep ourselves at the level we have shown over the last week. Thankfully there are now no more international breaks until March so we can well and truly focus on continuing trying to build momentum and form. The trip to Stevenage starts a pretty hectic run of fixtures in which are scheduled to play 11 times in 6 weeks, it really does feel as if the next month and a half could really shape our season. Let’s hope it is a positive one!

Up The O’s!